


Where There's Smoke

by Katkee



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Parody, Superheroes, anti-cliches, it's just a revised version of chapter 1, loosely modeled on one of my Flash fanfics, the second chapter is a lie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-27 04:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10801434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katkee/pseuds/Katkee
Summary: Declan Mar, aka Heatstroke, used to be the most feared villain in all of Crystal City. His fights with Ren Harper, more commonly known as Frostbite, were legendary. It's been over a year since he was defeated and thrown into prison. Guess what--he's back on the streets. Except there's another villain trying to take the mantle of Frostbite's nemesis. But Xavier Blackwell, or--as he insists on being called--Inferno, isn't all that great at villainy.Declan is struck with a brilliant idea: team up with Xavier and make Ren's life hell....That is, if he can stand working with someone with minimal banter skills, literal spikes on his costume, and no sense of subtlety.





	1. Version 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted looking for feedback so I could revise based on it. Chapter 1 is the original and chapter 2 is the revised version; you're welcome to read either, or both!

Declan was having a good day. He was in the midst of a battle with Frostbite. Really huge, clear-the-streets-and-lock-your-doors sort of fight. Great fun all around.

Then the street lights up with flame. Not Declan’s powers—some black-suited super’s idea of a dramatic entrance, apparently. Declan swears and ducks out of the way of the fire. He’d be fine with another enemy to tear down (okay, a little miffed, he prefers to hurt Frostbite, but he’s gotten used to Spark and Echo, so what’s one more?) but no! This pretender ignores Declan entirely and instead aims all their quite literal firepower at Frostbite.

Well, that’s just _unacceptable_. _Nobody_ is allowed to touch Ren Harper except for Declan.

( _Not_ like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. Seriously. That was a one-time thing, and…

…forget he said that.)

So anyway, Declan takes it upon himself to drag this shady black-suited super away from Frostbite. Not that his dear nemesis says thank you. Declan trained with them for almost a year and the “hero” can’t even be bothered to express their gratitude. Rude.

Shady Super over here is far more dramatic than Declan (judging by the fact that he’s quite literally on fire, whereas Declan? Maintaining a perfectly normal core temperature of a thousand degrees Fahrenheit or so). Possibly he’s stronger, too, but he’s only pulled away and is looking Declan over, not blasting flame yet, so it’s hard to be sure. Besides, Declan’s smarter, so.

“Who are you?” mystery guy growls. Which, predictable. Declan has to give him _some_ credit, though—that mask? Hard enough just breathing through a layer of fire; can’t be easy getting any oxygen filtered through that black skull mask. And god, the spikes on his shoulders…

Declan deliberately raises his body temp enough to get smoke swirling off him in menacing curls and speaks with more dignity than Shady Super’s raspy growl could ever manage. “ _I_ am Heatstroke. Archnemesis of Frostbite. I _don’t_ appreciate you interrupting our battle.”

“ _I_ am Frostbite’s nemesis!” the other supervillain insists. “My name is Inferno, and after I defeat Frostbite I will conquer Crystal City!”

Declan scoffs. “You know, in the early days of my villainy, I went by Wildfire. I gave that up because it’s _ridiculous_. Way too obvious. Besides, I’m a better nemesis than you could ever be.”

Inferno’s coat of flames flickers brighter and hotter with his annoyance. “You know, I destroyed a quarter of Crystal City in my day.”

“I burned across half the state.”

“I convinced Frostbite I was on their side for four months.”

Declan actually laughs. “I was their best friend for _eighteen years._ They still wonder if I’m really a villain sometimes.”

“Frostbite made a deal with a criminal in order to stop me!”

“They revealed their existence to the city, went behind their team’s back, called in outside assistance, and it _still_ took their friend’s heroic sacrifice in order to stop me.” Declan grins. “Not to mention, they were on the verge of joining my side at one point.”

Frostbite, who’s been watching them converse, nods. “Honestly, Heatstroke was much worse than you could ever be, Inferno. You could learn a lot from him.”

“… _Could_ I?” Inferno asks in his raspy growl.

Declan raises an eyebrow and regards Inferno, considering. Even with the mask, his fellow villain looks intrigued.

Frostbite’s eyes go wide, and they groan, burying their face in their hands. “Why do I even talk?” In their distress, their general aura of cold increases tenfold.

“So, Inferno, how about an alliance?” Declan asks, really more to annoy Ren than because he thinks this walking ad for a Halloween shop could be a good asset. He cranks up his core temp to counter the cold emanating from Frostbite. “We could be the team-up of Frostbite’s nightmares.”

Inferno lets out a raspy, screeching laugh, and Declan has to fight not to roll his eyes. Maybe he _can_ teach this kid a thing or two.

“It’s a deal,” Inferno says, and extends a hand—a gloved hand. With spikes on the knuckles. That’s on fire. _Wow_. This guy is really dedicated to his aesthetic. Meanwhile Declan’s rocking a red and yellow vest. And a _cape_. But does that make him less terrifying? No. Lesson one— _subtlety_.

Still, he smirks and shakes his hand, because Frostbite is still there and this is kind of fun.

“Well, shit,” Frostbite says. A swirl of ice and they’re gone.

Declan throws an arm around Inferno’s shoulders and starts off down the street. “So, have you ever considered a suit that’s a little less over-the-top?”

* * *

 

Somewhere on the outskirts of Crystal City is a peaceful and idyllic field, grass and wildflowers growing serenely in warm sunlight.

That’s not this field.

 _This_ field was Declan’s first victim as a supervillain, and has been in semi-continuous use as a practice ground ever since. Well. _Had_ been. Declan’s year-long incarceration put a stop to that long enough that, clearly, flowers decided they had the right to start poking out of the ground again. He thought he’d scared this field into eternal submission, but obviously not. Fields these days just don’t have _respect_ like they used to…

Whatever. Xavier ( _technically_ , Inferno had refused to tell Declan his real name, out of some misguided idea of mystery, but come on, a scientist specializing in temperature fluctuations shows up at Innovation Labs right around the time that Inferno blasts his way into town? How had Ren and crew not realized immediately?) is sure to wreak havoc on the innocent wildflowers.

“Okay,” Declan says. “Let’s start with something small. Pretend I’m Frostbite and—”

Xavier immediately bursts into flames, shooting fire twenty feet in every direction. Declan, whose clothes are by necessity nonflammable, sighs. Deeply.

“Xavier…”

“My name is Inferno,” Xavier says.

“Xavier, what did we talk about?”

Hard to tell behind that mask, but Declan’s pretty sure Xavier is rolling his eyes. “Subtlety,” he grumbles.

“Exactly. Does this,” he gestures to the charred, smoking circle taking up half the field, “look like _subtlety_ to you?” He decides not to even mention the fact that Xavier’s hair is still on fire.

“We’re supervillains!” Xavier throws his hands in the air. “We’re supposed to destroy things!”

“Xavier.”

“My name is _Inferno_.”

Declan approaches him, puts a hand on his shoulder, and speaks softly. “Xavier. I want you to think. What is it that you _really_ want to destroy?”

There’s a beat of silence, punctuated only by the soothing sizzling of burning hair.

“ _Frostbite_ ,” Xavier finally rasps, passion and rage harmonizing in the two syllables.

“Exactly!” Declan is so proud. “We want to fight Frostbite, and Frostbite tolerates us fighting them. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. But you know as well as I do—when you start to burn down buildings, and murder innocent civilians, and cause panic and terror on a citywide scale, Ren gets all ‘I never thought you’d stoop to these levels’ and ‘what happened to our friendship, Declan’, and ‘I’m sorry, but this is what must be done’…” Declan trails off.

A few moments pass.

“And then they pull out some unforeseen deus ex machina and stop you,” he finishes. “So unless you want to wind up back in prison, keep the destruction to a minimum.”

Xavier heaves an aggrieved sigh. “Fine.” He flares up again. This time the flames shoot ten feet out. “Like that?”

“…We’ll work on it.”

* * *

Turns out, when you set a field on fire in a city that’s been terrorized by two fire-based supervillains, the citizens call the fire department. And when the fire department shows up, Frostbite isn’t far behind.

It isn’t just Frostbite coming to fight the inexorable forces of evil today. Spark and Echo, their storm-themed superhero sidekicks, trail behind them.

“Did you really think you were going to get away with…” Frostbite trails off, looking around the field. Though it’s on fire, it’s also devoid of anyone or anything else. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“We’re setting a field on fire.” Declan spreads his arms wide. “Can’t a pair of villains have hobbies?”

“We’re going to defeat you, Frostbite,” Inferno snarls.

Declan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to be patient. Early villain days, right? But god, how this guy managed to singlehandedly kill the patron hero of Queen City and then terrorize Crystal for so long is beyond him. “Xavier—”

“Inferno!”

“I know how much you like your death threats,” the skull mask and costume covered in spikes would give that away, if nothing else, “but there’s an art to mid-fight banter. Starting out with ‘we’re going to defeat you’ skips past all the interesting, witty conversation. It’s boring.”

Frostbite has that certain tilt to their mouth and squint of their eyes that means they agree with Declan, but, on ideological grounds, refuse to state agreement with a villain. Echo doesn’t have the same restriction.

“He’s right,” she tells Inferno, who, looking immensely put out, shoots a wide stream of fire at her. The flames die out as they approach Frostbite.

Xavier’s anger is obvious; his hair is on fire again. “I’ll kill you and your entire family,” he rasps.

Declan elects to ignore that. “We’re not currently doing anything illegal, Frostbite, so, see you next time?”

“No—what—you literally escaped from prison!” Ren looks as incredulous as possible behind their glittering white mask. “We’re here to bring you in!”

“Honestly, _I’m_ mostly here to see Heatstroke and Inferno working together,” Spark says.

“Me too,” Echo agrees. “You said they were, but, come on, that sort of team-up was too ridiculous to be true. And you suggested it to them?”

Frostbite buries their head in their hands. “Shut up, Echo,” they mumble. “I didn’t do it on purpose. Can’t we just bring them in and discuss this later?”

“One problem with that,” Declan sing-songs.

Frostbite sighs heavily. “What now?” They glance up.

Gratified, Declan ups his body temperature until the air around him is wavering with heat. He flourishes his cape dramatically. “You’re not going to bring us in.”

“Oh. That.” Frostbite shifts into a fighting stance and the temperature around them drops, a gentle white fog of frost drifting off their body. “That’s where you’re wrong, Heatstroke.”

“We’ll defeat you,” Echo agrees, her words backed up by a rumble of thunder.

“Can we do it fast?” Spark asks. Little bits of electricity flicker around her. “I have a paper to write, and a lab report due by midnight.”

“Yeah, hold on, shouldn’t you and your girlfriend be in school?” Declan smirks. “I so love to destroy heroes, but if college students are the best that this city has to offer, I’ll happily accept your surrender.”

Spark and Echo look at each other and grin. “I can’t _wait_ to see what you have to say when _college students_ kick your ass,” Spark says.

“You know what they say about playing with fire,” Echo adds.

“Yeah,” Inferno says. “It helps you kill your enemies.”

The rest of the supers glance at each other and take a moment to collectively sigh before throwing themselves into battle.

* * *

_Weeks_ have passed.

Declan watches Inferno fight Team Frostbite and frowns.

There’s no other way to say it.

Declan is getting annoyed with his new acquaintance.

The man has no sense of style. None. And sure, that’s sort of a given, that’s the reason Declan took him under his proverbial wing to begin with, but it’s been _weeks_ , and…

“You will all crumble to ashes before my flames…”

No change.

Declan sighs and heads into the fray, dragging his mentee out by the black back of his suit.

“Okay, no—you said those exact words _yesterday_ , Xavier, you can’t repeat threats that soon, people will think you’re predictable.”

Frostbite and their partners nod in agreement. Declan makes an apologetic face at them. He’s _tried_ to teach him better banter, he swears…

Inferno snarls and pulls out of Declan’s grip. “You’re not the boss of me, Declan!”

“Yes, I am,” Declan says.

“Yes, he is,” all of Team Frostbite agrees.

Xavier pulls off his mask (yup, still wearing that skull mask, _honestly_ , that moron won’t change a _bit_ ) and looks highly offended, not to mention a little hurt.

“Declan, I think we need to talk about our partnership—”

“Mentorship,” Declan corrects.

“I feel like you don’t treat me as an equal—”

“I don’t, because we’re not,” he says patiently.

“You don’t respect me—”

“Nope.”

“—as a person or a villain.” Inferno looks sad and vaguely regretful. “It’s just not working out between us.”

“It’s not you, it’s me,” Declan deadpans.

“Exactly, it’s you,” Inferno agrees. “We’re better off as just enemies.”

“Well, that relationship was fun while it lasted.” Freed from the social constraints of a mentorship, Declan can finally, _finally_ show Inferno exactly what a good villain can do.

It takes two seconds flat to pin Xavier against the nearest wall. Inferno’s powers don’t work the same way Declan’s do—they don’t protect him from anything but his own fire. All it’ll take is a concentrated burst of heat and Inferno will live up to his name—

The air temperature drops about a hundred degrees in an instant as Frostbite shoves their way in between Declan and Xavier.

“What?” Declan rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell me you actually care about him.”

“Okay, well, first, I’m not going to let you murder someone,” Frostbite says. “And second, I don’t want the two of you to split up! Sure, you’ve had your issues, but I think you can work past them!”

“Our relationship is over, Frostbite,” Xavier snaps.

“Let it go,” Declan agrees.

“No, I think you need to work it out.” Frostbite pushes Declan away from Inferno. Their hands burn cold on Declan’s shoulders before he manages to get his body temp high enough to counteract it. “Sit down. Inferno, you sit down too. You need to talk about your problems in this relationship.”

“No thanks,” Declan says.

“Frostbite,” Echo says, “you know they’re villains, right?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Frostbite insists. “I’m a _hero_. I’m contractually obligated to help people if I can.”

“They’re _murderers_ ,” Spark points out.

“And you’re a _vigilante_. Legally, you’re obligated to do nothing,” Echo adds.

Frostbite glares at her. “Just help me out here.”

Echo shrugs and flicks her fingers. A crack of thunder sounds, loud enough that Declan and Xavier both collapse from the sheer force of it.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Spark asks.

“Shut up.” Frostbite sinks cross-legged to the ground near Declan and Xavier, close enough that their cold aura kills Inferno’s fire. Spark and Echo sit down behind Frostbite, shaking their heads. “Now, Heatstroke, I understand you’re having some problems with Inferno. Care to elaborate on those?”

Declan rolls his eyes. “I’m not doing this.” He stands up. Frostbite glances at Spark, who holds out her hand. A bolt of lightning strikes Declan, sending him back to the ground.

“ _Fine_ ,” he spits. “Inferno doesn’t listen to me. He refuses to take even a single piece of advice.”

“Well, maybe I would be able to take some of your advice if you didn’t try to control _everything_ I do!” Xavier retorts.

“If you were a better villain, I wouldn’t have to be so pushy.”

“I’m a _great_ villain! I terrorized this city for months!”

“I’m pretty sure Frostbite was just humoring you.”

“It sounds,” Frostbite themself interjects, “like the two of you are having problems because you’re both evil, egotistical megalomaniacs, too stubborn and narcissistic to consider the other’s point of view.”

“Maybe he’s just _wrong_ ,” Declan mutters—only to hear Xavier muttering the same thing.

Frostbite shakes their head. “See, the two of you just need a concrete goal, and then your collective stubbornness will be pointed in the same direction.”

“A goal,” Declan says thoughtfully.

Spark and Echo, who can already see where this is going, groan. “Why do you _always_ do this, Frostbite?” Spark asks.

“What?”

Declan and Inferno glance at each other, grin, and get to their feet. A goal? Easy. It is what it’s always been.

Defeat Frostbite.

Ren looks up at their two villains. “…Oh,” they say.

“Yeah,” Echo says.

“Okay. I see your point.”

“Thanks.”

There’s a brief pause as the heroes get to their feet, and then the nice city street devolves into a storm of fire and ice and lightning.

* * *

“You know Ren is going to stop you, right?”

Lucas Webber—detective with Crystal City Police, member of Team Frostbite, and, notably, Frostbite’s love interest—looks almost smug, despite the fact that he’s tied to a chair, held hostage by two supervillains.

“ _Please_ ,” Declan scoffs. “They could barely stop each of us on our own. Now that we’re working together…” He pauses, waiting for Xavier’s inevitable melodramatic comment.

Xavier doesn’t disappoint. “Frostbite’s days as Crystal City’s hero are about to reach their end.” He punctuates the statement with a raspy, guttural laugh.

Declan smiles to himself and continues the preparations. Step one is complete—they’ve seized Crane Manor, Team Frostbite’s base of operations. Capturing Lucas wasn’t their original intention, but it certainly helps.

For example, luring Frostbite here will be far easier. Declan strolls over to Lucas and tugs out the earpiece Team Frostbite uses to keep in contact. “Here.” He tosses it to Xavier. “Invite our mutual friend to join us.”

Xavier holds the earpiece to his mouth, looking positively gleeful. “Frostbite! I know you’re listening!” He pauses briefly. There’s no response, but he continues, undeterred. “Here’s the deal: we’ve got Crane Manor. We’ve got Lucas Webber. Come alone, and maybe your boyfriend can live through this.” Not that they wouldn’t come alone anyway; it’s finals week. Spark and Echo will be way too busy studying to show up.

“I’m not actually their boyfriend,” Lucas points out.

Declan rolls his eyes. “Semantics. We all know you’re going to end up together. Your mutual flirting was obvious even when I was a hero.”

Lucas shrugs noncommittally.

There’s a staticky sound from the earpiece that could be interpreted as an exhausted sigh. _“I’m on my way,”_ Frostbite says.

“They’re going to stop you,” Lucas insists.

Declan laughs and checks his watch. “Anyone bring a deck of cards?”

A few minutes later, one of the many computers beeps. Xavier glances at the screen and his eyes widen.

“Frostbite’s here!” he says. He looks more panicked than Declan has ever seen him. “Ohhh god, it’s happening…”

“Calm down, Xavier. Remember, we’ve practiced this.”

“You’ve _practiced_ this?” Lucas asks.

Declan walks over to him and places a too-hot hand on his shoulder. “You’re the one tied to a chair—I don’t think you get to judge us.”

The door bangs open, and Frostbite steps inside.

“Let’s get this over with,” they sigh. “Eventually they won’t just let me leave work at a moment’s notice.”

“Well, Frostbite—wait, are you saying that your coworkers don’t already know that you’re Frostbite?” Declan knows he shouldn’t go off-script—it’ll probably throw Xavier off—but he can’t help it. “I figured that was common knowledge, even when I worked there.”

“They’re doing their best to retain plausible deniability, okay?”

“Whatever.” Declan clears his throat and continues with the planned dialogue. “As you can see, Frostbite, you have no choice but to surrender. Unless…” He takes his hand off Lucas’s shoulder and holds it up. Smoke swirls from his palm.

“Yeah, yeah.” Frostbite raises their hands. “I surrender.”

Declan smiles and looks to Xavier, raising his eyebrows significantly. “Inferno?”

He looks confused. “What?”

“What do you mean, what—get the _thing_!”

“Oh, right!” Xavier ducks out of the room for a moment and comes back in, wheeling a tall box with a clear front and plenty of wires and tubes. It’s large enough to comfortably hold a person, and uncomfortably hold two. He opens up the front and gestures inside. “Frostbite, get in.”

Ren looks less than impressed. “What’s that?”

Declan and Xavier exchange a look. Their plans didn’t account for this—Frostbite was supposed to _get_ _in the box_ before asking what it was.

“Just get in!” Xavier insists.

Declan, still next to Lucas, emphasizes the point by raising his temperature further, so that trickles of sweat start to roll down Lucas’s face.

“Fine,” Frostbite says. They step into the box and Xavier shuts and locks the door behind them. “Now let Lucas go.”

Declan and Xavier laugh. Frostbite sighs. “Why am I not surprised? Sorry, Lucas.”

He shrugs. “It’s fine. I trust you. You’ll defeat them.”

“No, they won’t,” Xavier says.

“ _This_ ,” Declan begins, walking over so he can face Frostbite through the clear panel, “is a very special machine.”

“Oh, now you’re explaining it?”

“Shut up. As you may have already noticed, the interior of the machine is beginning to heat up. The temperature will continue to rise until you’ll be forced to use your powers to defend yourself—at which point the machine will begin to collect the energy from the cold you emit. And then…”

“…we’ll use the cold to freeze all of Crystal City!” Xavier finishes.

“That doesn’t actually make sense,” Frostbite says.

“And once—wait, what doesn’t?” Declan glares through the pane.

Ren gestures around themself to the machine. “This. Cold isn’t _energy_ , you can’t collect it.”

“Sure you can,” Declan says. “That’s how fridges work.”

“No, fridges collect heat and send it out the back.”

“Stop asking questions. It _works_ , okay?”

Frostbite rolls their eyes. “Okay.”

Declan tries to remember where he is in the explanation. “ _Anyway_ , once the city is frozen, the whole world will view you as a villain for the rest of your life. Your reputation will be ruined—not to mention that most of the citizens of Crystal City will probably be dead.”

Ren considers this from inside the box. They’re already dripping with sweat—the machine is working.

“No thanks,” they finally say.

Xavier lets out an impressively malicious laugh. “You won’t have a choice, Frostbite! You have to use your powers, or you’ll die in there!”

“I’m fine with that.” They sit down and lean back against the wall. “When I signed up for this whole ‘hero’ thing, I knew I might die because of it. I’m not going to let you murder the entire city to save myself.”

Damn it. Declan had totally forgotten about the whole hero-complex thing Ren’s got.

“Well—if you don’t—” he stammers.

“What?” Ren somehow manages to yawn, despite their obvious discomfort.

“I’ve got an idea,” Xavier growls.

“I—wait, you do?” Declan asks, startled.

Xavier stalks over to Lucas, burns through the ropes restraining him, and yanks him to his feet. Declan catches on and opens the door of the machine.

Before Ren can make an escape attempt, Xavier shoves Lucas into the box as well and slams the door. “Now, if you don’t start using your powers, your boyfriend will die as well!”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Frostbite says.

“I’m not their boyfriend,” Lucas says.

“It doesn’t matter,” Declan says. “You have to comply if you want him to live. Otherwise, both of you will die—of _heatstroke_.”

 _Now_ , gratifyingly enough, Frostbite looks anguished, though whether it’s the situation or the pun is anybody’s guess. They look at Lucas, who, by necessity, is pressed close against them in the machine.

Declan gives Xavier a high five.

“It’s okay,” Lucas says to Frostbite. “I’m willing to die with you.”

Inferno sneers. “How touching.” He walks over to look through the door. “You know, I always knew I’d eventually defeat you, Frostbite.”

Declan clears his throat.

“…And even though it took some help, here we are. You’re going to either die painfully, knowing that you could have saved yourself and your true love, or you’re going to help us destroy the city you love so much.” He grins, viciously smug.

Declan suddenly realizes exactly what’s happening and stops nodding along with Xavier’s words. “Inferno, wait.”

He doesn’t listen. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? You fought so hard to protect Crystal City, only for the cause of its downfall to be _you_.”

“Inferno, stop!” Declan is getting desperate—he remembers exactly why it is Ren first defeated him, now, and this is edging into that territory—

“When all this is over, you’re going to look back…”

Ren is whispering something into Lucas’s ear now.

“…and rue the day you first tangled with Inferno—!”

A lot of things happen at once.

Inferno lets out his patented, raspy laugh.

“ _Xavier!_ ” Declan shouts.

Lucas twists as far away from Frostbite as the space will allow.

And the machine explodes in a whirl of ice.

 _Shit_.

* * *

“ _Xavier_ ,” Declan groans, days later, in a prison cell. “What did I _tell_ you about monologuing?”


	2. Version 2

Declan _was_ having a good day. He was in the midst of a battle with Frostbite. A huge, clear-the-streets-and-lock-your-doors sort of battle, the first real one-on-one hero-villain clash he’s had since breaking out of prison last week. Great fun all around.

Then the street lights up with flame. For once, this isn’t a result of Declan’s powers—it’s some black-suited super’s idea of a dramatic entrance, apparently. Declan, irritated but not hurt by the fire, glares in the direction of the newcomer. He’d be fine with another enemy to tear down (okay, a little miffed, he prefers to hurt Frostbite, but he’s already faced Spark and Echo, so what’s one more?) but no! This pretender ignores Declan entirely and instead aims all his quite literal firepower at Frostbite, knocking them to the ground.

Well, that’s just _unacceptable_. _Nobody_ is allowed to touch Ren Harper except for Declan.

( _Not_ like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. Seriously. That was a one-time thing, and…

…forget he said that.)

So anyway, Declan takes it upon himself to drag this shady black-suited super away from Frostbite’s fallen figure. Not that his dear nemesis says thank you. Declan trained with them for almost a year and the “hero” can’t even be bothered to express their gratitude. Rude.

Shady Super, whoever he is—god, the things you miss when you get locked up for a year—is _far_ more dramatic than Declan (judging by the fact that he’s quite literally on fire, whereas Declan? Maintaining a perfectly normal core temperature of a thousand degrees Fahrenheit or so). Possibly he’s stronger, too, but he’s only pulled away and is looking Declan over, not blasting flame yet, so it’s hard to be sure. Besides, Declan’s smarter, so.

“Who are you?” mystery guy growls. Which, predictable. Declan has to give him _some_ credit, though—that mask? Hard enough breathing through just that layer of fire; can’t be easy getting any oxygen filtered through that black skull mask. And god, the spikes on his shoulders…

Declan deliberately raises his body temp enough to get smoke swirling off him in menacing curls and speaks with more dignity than Shady Super’s raspy growl could ever manage. “ _I_ am Heatstroke. Archnemesis of Frostbite. I _don’t_ appreciate you interrupting our battle.”

“ _I_ am Frostbite’s nemesis!” the other supervillain insists. “My name is Inferno, and after I defeat Frostbite I will conquer Crystal City!”

Declan scoffs. “You know, in the early days of my villainy, I went by Wildfire. I gave that up because it’s _ridiculous_. Way too obvious. Besides, I’m a better nemesis than you could ever be.”

Inferno’s coat of flames flickers brighter and hotter with his annoyance. “You know, I destroyed a quarter of Crystal City in my day.”

“I burned across half the state.”

“I convinced Frostbite I was on their side for four months.”

Declan actually laughs. “I was their best friend for _eighteen years._ They still wonder if I’m really a villain sometimes.”

“Frostbite made a deal with a criminal in order to stop me!”

“They revealed their existence to the city, went behind their team’s back, called in outside assistance, and it _still_ took their friend’s heroic sacrifice in order to stop me.” Declan grins. “Not to mention, they were on the verge of joining my side at one point.”

Frostbite, who’s just managed to recover from the barrage of attacks, nods as they get to their feet. “Honestly, Heatstroke was much worse than you could ever be, Inferno. You could learn a lot from him.”

“… _Could_ I?” Inferno asks in his raspy growl.

Declan raises an eyebrow and regards Inferno, considering. Even with the mask, his fellow villain looks intrigued.

Frostbite’s eyes go wide, and they groan, burying their face in their hands. “Why do I even talk?” In their distress, their general aura of cold increases tenfold.

“So, Inferno, how about an alliance?” Declan asks, really more to annoy Ren than because he thinks this walking ad for a Halloween shop could be a good asset. He cranks up his core temp to counter the cold emanating from Frostbite. “We could be the team-up of Frostbite’s nightmares.”

Inferno lets out a raspy, screeching laugh, and Declan has to fight not to roll his eyes. Maybe he _can_ teach this kid a thing or two.

“It’s a deal,” Inferno says, and extends a hand—a gloved hand. With spikes on the knuckles. That’s on fire. _Wow_. This guy is really dedicated to his aesthetic. Meanwhile Declan’s rocking a red and yellow vest. And a _cape_. But does that make him less terrifying? No. Lesson one— _subtlety_.

Still, he smirks and shakes his hand, because Frostbite is still there and this is kind of fun.

“Well, shit,” Frostbite says. A swirl of ice and they’re gone.

Declan throws an arm around Inferno’s shoulders and starts off down the street. “So, have you ever considered a suit that’s a little less over-the-top?”

* * *

 

Somewhere on the outskirts of Crystal City is a peaceful and idyllic field, grass and wildflowers growing serenely in warm sunlight.

That’s not this field.

 _This_ field was Declan’s first victim as a supervillain, and has been in semi-continuous use as a practice ground ever since. Well. _Had_ been. Declan’s year-long incarceration put a stop to that long enough that, clearly, flowers decided they had the right to start poking out of the ground again. He thought he’d scared this field into eternal submission, but obviously not. Fields these days just don’t have _respect_ like they used to…

Whatever. Xavier ( _technically_ , Inferno had refused to tell Declan his real name, out of some misguided sense of mystery, but come on, a scientist specializing in temperature fluctuations shows up in Crystal City right around the time that Inferno blasts his way into town? How had Ren and crew not realized immediately?) is sure to wreak havoc on the innocent wildflowers.

“Okay,” Declan says. “Let’s start with something simple. Pretend I’m Frostbite and—”

Xavier immediately bursts into flames, shooting fire twenty feet in every direction. Declan, whose clothes are by necessity nonflammable, sighs. Deeply.

“Xavier…”

“My name is Inferno,” Xavier says.

“Xavier, what did we talk about?”

Hard to tell behind that mask, but Declan’s pretty sure Xavier is rolling his eyes. “Subtlety,” he grumbles.

“Exactly. Does this,” he gestures to the charred, smoking circle taking up half the field, “look like _subtlety_ to you?” He decides not to even mention the fact that Xavier’s hair is still on fire.

“We’re supervillains!” Xavier throws his hands in the air. “We’re supposed to destroy things!”

“Xavier.”

“My name is _Inferno_.”

Declan approaches him, puts a hand on his shoulder, and speaks softly. “Xavier. I want you to think. What is it that you _really_ want to destroy?”

There’s a beat of silence, punctuated only by the soothing sizzling of burning hair.

“ _Frostbite_ ,” Xavier finally rasps, passion and rage harmonizing in the two syllables.

“Exactly!” Declan is so proud. “We want to fight Frostbite, and Frostbite tolerates us fighting them. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. But you know as well as I do—when you start to burn down buildings, and murder innocent civilians, and cause panic and terror on a citywide scale, Ren gets all ‘I never thought you’d stoop to these levels’ and ‘what happened to our friendship, Declan’, and ‘I’m sorry, but this is what must be done’…” Declan trails off.

A few moments pass.

“And then they pull out some unforeseen deus ex machina and stop you,” he finishes. “So unless you want to wind up back in prison, keep the destruction to a minimum.”

Xavier heaves an aggrieved sigh. “Fine.” He flares up again. This time the flames shoot ten feet out. “Like that?”

“…We’ll work on it.”

* * *

 

Turns out, when you set a field on fire in a city that’s fallen prey to two pyromancing supervillains, the citizens call the fire department. And when the fire department shows up, Frostbite isn’t far behind.

It isn’t just Frostbite coming to fight the inexorable forces of evil today. Spark and Echo, their storm-themed superhero sidekicks, trail behind them. The trio makes quite the image, striding across the field: the dashing hero in their blue-and-white leather, followed by two proteges in matching silver-and-gold getups, all aesthetically arranged in a perfect triangle formation. Seems almost like they should be walking in slow motion.

“Did you really think you were going to get away with…” Frostbite trails off, looking around the field. Though it’s on fire, it’s also devoid of anyone or anything else. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“We’re setting a field on fire.” Declan spreads his arms wide. “Can’t a pair of villains have hobbies?”

“I missed getting coffee with Lucas for this?” Frostbite sighs.

“Oh, are you two dating now?” Declan asks. “Took you long enough.” He can’t stand romantic tension.

“ _No_ , we’re not—we’re not together.” Frostbite looks a little caught off guard.

Declan scoffs. “Cold. You know Lucas is in love with you, right?”

Frostbite rolls their eyes and shifts into a fighting stance. “Well, I’m here to—”

“We’re going to defeat you, Frostbite,” Xavier snarls.

Declan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to be patient. Early villain days, right? But god, how this guy managed to singlehandedly kill the patron hero of Queen City and then terrorize Crystal for so long is beyond him. “Xavier—”

“Inferno!”

“I know how much you like your death threats,” the costume would give that away, if nothing else, “but there’s an art to mid-fight banter. Starting out with ‘we’re going to defeat you’ skips past all the interesting, witty conversation. It’s boring.”

Frostbite has that certain tilt to their mouth and squint of their eyes that means they agree with Declan, but, on ideological grounds, refuse to state agreement with a villain. Echo doesn’t have the same restriction.

“He’s right,” she tells Xavier, who, looking immensely put out, shoots a wide stream of fire at her. The flames die out as they approach Frostbite.

“Don’t encourage them, Echo,” Spark says.

Xavier’s anger is obvious; his hair is on fire again. “I’ll kill you and your entire family,” he rasps.

Declan elects to ignore that. “We’re not currently doing anything illegal, Frostbite, so, see you next time?”

“No—what—you literally escaped from prison!” Ren looks as incredulous as possible behind their glittering white mask. “We’re here to bring you in!”

“Honestly, _I’m_ mostly here to see Heatstroke and Inferno working together,” Echo says.

“ _Echo_ ,” Spark says.

“What? That’s why you’re here too.”

“Yeah, but you’re not supposed to tell Frostbite that.”

Frostbite frowns. “What, you didn’t believe me?”

Echo shrugs. “You said they were, but, come on, that sort of team-up was too ridiculous to be true. And you suggested it to them?”

“Shut up, Echo,” they mumble. “I didn’t do it on purpose. Can’t we just bring them in and discuss this later?”

“One problem with that,” Declan sing-songs.

Frostbite sighs heavily and looks at him. “What now?”

Gratified, Declan ups his body temperature until the air around him is wavering with heat. He flourishes his cape dramatically. “You’re not going to bring us in.”

“Oh. That.” Frostbite shifts into a fighting stance and the temperature around them drops, a gentle white fog of frost drifting off their body. “That’s where you’re wrong, Heatstroke.”

“We’ll defeat you,” Echo agrees, her words backed up by a rumble of thunder.

“Can we do it fast?” Spark asks. Little bits of electricity flicker around her. “I have a paper to write, and a lab report due by midnight.”

“Yeah, hold on, shouldn’t you and your girlfriend be in school?” Declan smirks. “I so love to destroy heroes, but if college students are the best that this city has to offer, I’ll happily accept your surrender.”

Echo smirks. “I can’t _wait_ to see what you have to say when _college students_ kick your ass.”

“You know what they say about playing with fire,” Spark adds. She rolls her eyes at her own cliché.

“Yeah,” Inferno says. “It helps you kill your enemies.”

The rest of the supers glance at each other and take a moment to collectively sigh before throwing themselves into battle.

* * *

 

 _Weeks_ have passed.

Declan watches Inferno fight Team Frostbite and frowns.

There’s no other way to say it.

Declan is getting annoyed with his new acquaintance.

The man has no sense of style. None. And sure, that’s sort of a given, that’s the reason Declan took him under his proverbial wing to begin with, but it’s been _weeks_ , and…

“You will all crumble to ashes before my flames…”

No change.

Declan sighs and heads into the fray, dragging his mentee out by the black back of his suit.

“Okay, no—you said those exact words _yesterday_ , Xavier, you can’t repeat threats that soon, people will think you’re predictable.”

Frostbite and their partners nod in agreement. Declan makes an apologetic face at them. He’s _tried_ to teach him better banter, he swears…

Inferno snarls and pulls out of Declan’s grip. “You’re not the boss of me, Declan!”

“Yes, I am,” Declan says.

“Yes, he is,” all of Team Frostbite agrees.

Xavier pulls off his mask (yup, still wearing that skull mask, _honestly_ , that moron won’t change a _bit_ ) and looks highly offended, not to mention a little hurt.

“Declan, I think we need to talk about our partnership—”

“Mentorship,” Declan corrects.

“I feel like you don’t treat me as an equal—”

“I don’t, because we’re not,” he says patiently.

“You don’t respect me—”

“Nope.”

“—as a person or a villain.” Inferno looks sad and vaguely regretful. “It’s just not working out between us.”

“It’s not you, it’s me,” Declan deadpans.

“Exactly, it’s you,” Inferno agrees. “We’re better off as just enemies.”

“Well, that relationship was fun while it lasted.” Freed from the social constraints of a mentorship, Declan can finally, _finally_ show Inferno exactly what a good villain can do.

It takes two seconds flat to pin Xavier against the nearest wall. Inferno’s powers don’t work the same way Declan’s do—they don’t protect him from anything but his own fire. All it’ll take is a concentrated burst of heat and Inferno will live up to his name—

The air temperature drops about a hundred degrees in an instant as Frostbite shoves their way in between Declan and Xavier.

“What?” Declan rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell me you actually care about him.”

“Okay, well, first, I’m not going to let you murder someone,” Frostbite says. “And second, I don’t want the two of you to split up! Sure, you’ve had your issues, but I think you can work past them!”

“Our relationship is over, Frostbite,” Xavier snaps.

“Let it go,” Declan agrees.

“No, I think you need to work it out.” Frostbite pushes Declan away from Inferno. Their hands burn cold on Declan’s shoulders before he manages to get his body temperature high enough to counteract it. “Sit down. Inferno, you sit down too. You need to talk about your problems in this relationship.”

“No thanks,” Declan says.

“Frostbite,” Spark says slowly, “you know they’re villains, right?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Frostbite insists. “I’m a _hero_. I’m contractually obligated to help people if I can.”

“Contractually?” Echo asks. “Oh, right, that paperwork they gave us when we first decided to dress up in costumes and stop a crime. I remember now.”

Frostbite glares at her. “Okay, so the contract is… hypothetical. It’s the principle of the thing. Just help me out here.”

Echo shrugs and flicks her fingers. A crack of thunder sounds, loud enough that Declan and Xavier both collapse from the sheer force of it.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Spark asks.

“Shut up.” Frostbite sinks cross-legged to the ground near Declan and Xavier, close enough that their cold aura kills Inferno’s fire. Spark and Echo sit down behind Frostbite, shaking their heads. “Now, Heatstroke, I understand you’re having some problems with Inferno. Care to elaborate on those?”

Declan rolls his eyes. “I’m not doing this.” He stands up. Frostbite glances at Spark, who sighs and holds out her hand. A bolt of lightning strikes Declan, sending him back to the ground.

“ _Fine_ ,” he spits. “Inferno doesn’t listen to me. He refuses to take even a single piece of advice.”

“Well, maybe I would be able to take some of your advice if you didn’t try to control _everything_ I do!” Xavier retorts.

“If you were a better villain, I wouldn’t have to be so pushy.”

“I’m a _great_ villain! I terrorized this city for months!”

“I’m pretty sure Frostbite was just humoring you.”

“It sounds,” Frostbite themself interjects, “like the two of you are having problems because you’re both evil, egotistical megalomaniacs, too stubborn and narcissistic to consider the other’s point of view.”

“Maybe he’s just _wrong_ ,” Declan mutters—only to hear Xavier muttering the same thing.

Frostbite shakes their head. “See, the two of you just need a concrete goal, and then your collective stubbornness will be pointed in the same direction.”

“A goal,” Declan says thoughtfully.

Spark and Echo, who can already see where this is going, groan. “Why do you _always_ do this, Frostbite?” Spark asks.

“What?”

Declan and Inferno glance at each other, grin, and get to their feet. A goal? Easy. It is what it’s always been.

Defeat Frostbite.

Ren looks up at their two villains. “…Oh,” they say.

“Yeah,” Spark says.

“Okay. I see your point.”

“Thanks.”

There’s a brief pause as the heroes get to their feet, and then the nice city street devolves into a storm of fire and ice and lightning.

* * *

 

“You know Ren is going to stop you, right?”

Lucas Webber—detective with Crystal City Police, member of Team Frostbite, and, notably, Frostbite’s love interest—looks almost smug, despite the fact that he’s tied to a chair, held hostage by two supervillains.

“ _Please_ ,” Declan scoffs. “They could barely stop each of us on our own. Now that we’re working together…” He pauses, waiting for Xavier’s inevitable melodramatic comment.

Xavier doesn’t disappoint. “Frostbite’s days as Crystal City’s hero are about to reach their end.” He punctuates the statement with a raspy, guttural laugh.

Declan smiles to himself and continues the preparations. Steps one and two are complete—they’ve seized Crane Manor, Team Frostbite’s base of operations, and captured Lucas. (Who, unfortunately, looks no less handsome tied to a chair. That’s just _inconsiderate_.)

Anyway. Stick to the plan. Step three: lure Frostbite here. Declan strolls over to Lucas and tugs out the earpiece Team Frostbite uses to keep in contact. “Here.” He tosses it to Xavier. “Invite our mutual friend to join us.”

Xavier holds the earpiece to his mouth, looking positively gleeful. “Frostbite! I know you’re listening!” He pauses briefly. There’s no response, but he continues, undeterred. “Here’s the deal: we’ve got Crane Manor. We’ve got Lucas Webber. Come alone, and maybe your boyfriend can live through this.” Not that they wouldn’t come alone anyway; it’s finals week. Spark and Echo will be way too busy studying to show up.

“I’m not actually their boyfriend,” Lucas points out.

Declan rolls his eyes. “Semantics. We all know you’re going to end up together. Your mutual flirting was obvious even when I was a hero.”

Lucas shrugs noncommittally.

There’s a staticky sound from the earpiece that could be interpreted as an exhausted sigh. _“I’m on my way,”_ Frostbite says.

“They’re going to stop you,” Lucas insists.

Declan checks his watch. “Anyone bring a deck of cards?”

A few minutes later, one of the many computers beeps. Xavier glances at the screen and his eyes widen.

“Frostbite’s here!” he says. He looks more panicked than Declan has ever seen him. “Ohhh god, it’s happening…”

“Calm down, Xavier. Remember, we’ve practiced this.”

“You’ve _practiced_ this?” Lucas asks.

Declan walks over to him and places a too-hot hand on his shoulder. “You’re the one tied to a chair—I don’t think you get to judge us.”

The door bangs open, and Frostbite steps inside.

“Let’s get this over with,” they sigh. “Eventually they won’t just let me leave work at a moment’s notice.”

“Well, Frostbite—wait, are you saying that your coworkers don’t already know that you’re Frostbite?” Declan knows he shouldn’t go off-script—it’ll probably throw Xavier off—but he can’t help it. “I figured that was common knowledge.”

“They’re doing their best to retain plausible deniability, okay?”

“Whatever.” Declan clears his throat and continues with the planned dialogue. “As you can see, Frostbite, you have no choice but to surrender. Unless…” He takes his hand off Lucas’s shoulder and holds it up. Smoke swirls from his palm.

“Yeah, yeah.” Frostbite raises their hands. “I surrender.”

Declan looks to Xavier, raising his eyebrows significantly. “Inferno?”

He looks confused. “What?”

“What do you mean, what—get the _thing_!”

“Oh, right!” Xavier ducks out of the room for a moment and comes back in, wheeling a tall box with a clear front and plenty of wires and tubes. It’s large enough to comfortably hold a single person, and uncomfortably hold two. He opens up the front and gestures inside. “Frostbite, get in.”

Frostbite looks less than impressed. “What’s that?”

Declan and Xavier exchange a look. Their plans didn’t account for this—Frostbite was supposed to _get_ _in the box_ before asking what it was.

“Just get in!” Xavier insists.

Declan, still next to Lucas, emphasizes the point by raising his temperature further, so that trickles of sweat start to roll down Lucas’s gorgeous face.

“Fine,” Frostbite says. They step into the box and Xavier shuts and locks the door behind them. “Now let Lucas go.”

Declan and Xavier scoff. Frostbite sighs. “Why am I not surprised? Sorry, Lucas.”

He shrugs. “It’s fine. I trust you. You’ll defeat them.”

“No, they won’t,” Xavier says.

“ _This_ ,” Declan begins, walking over so he can face Frostbite through the clear panel, “is a very special machine.”

“Oh, now you’re explaining it?”

“Shut up. As you may have already noticed, the interior of the machine is beginning to heat up. The temperature will continue to rise until you’ll be forced to use your powers to defend yourself—at which point the machine will begin to collect the energy from the cold you emit. And then…”

“…we’ll use the cold to freeze all of Crystal City!” Xavier finishes.

“That doesn’t actually make sense,” Frostbite says.

“And once—wait, what doesn’t?” Declan glares through the pane.

Ren gestures around themself to the machine. “This. Cold isn’t _energy_ , you can’t collect it.”

“Sure you can,” Declan says. “That’s how fridges work.”

“No, fridges collect heat and send it out the back.”

“Don’t question it. It _works_ , okay?”

Frostbite rolls their eyes. “Okay.”

Declan tries to remember where he is in the explanation. “ _Anyway_ , once the city is frozen, the whole world will view you as a villain for the rest of your life. Your reputation will be ruined—not to mention that most of the citizens of Crystal City will be dead.”

Frostbite considers this from inside the box. They’re already dripping with sweat—the machine is working.

“No thanks,” they finally say.

Xavier lets out an impressively malicious laugh. “You won’t have a choice, Frostbite! You have to use your powers, or you’ll die in there!”

“I’m fine with that.” They sit down and lean back against the wall. “When I signed up for this whole ‘hero’ thing, I knew I might die because of it. I’m not going to let you murder the entire city to save myself.”

Damn it. Declan had totally forgotten about the whole hero-complex thing Ren’s got.

“Well—if you don’t—” he stammers.

“What?” Ren somehow manages to yawn, despite their obvious discomfort. Declan struggles to think of a Plan B.

“I’ve got an idea,” Xavier growls.

“I—wait, you do?” Declan asks, startled.

Xavier stalks over to Lucas, burns through the ropes restraining him, and yanks him to his feet. Declan catches on and opens the door of the machine.

Before Ren can make an escape attempt, Xavier shoves Lucas into the box as well and slams the door. “Now, if you don’t start using your powers, your boyfriend will die as well!”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Frostbite says.

“I’m not their boyfriend,” Lucas says.

“It doesn’t matter,” Declan says. “You have to comply if you want him to live. Otherwise, both of you will die—of _heatstroke_ , no less.”

 _Now_ , gratifyingly enough, Frostbite looks anguished, though whether it’s the situation or the pun is anybody’s guess. They look at Lucas, who, by necessity, is pressed close against them in the machine.

Declan gives Xavier a high five.

“It’s okay,” Lucas says to Frostbite. “I’m willing to die with you.”

Inferno sneers. “How touching.” He walks over to look through the door. “You know, I always knew I’d eventually defeat you, Frostbite.”

Declan clears his throat.

“…And even though it took some help, here we are. You’re going to either die painfully, knowing that you could have saved yourself and your true love, or you’re going to help us destroy the city you love so much.” He grins, viciously smug.

Declan suddenly realizes what’s happening and stops nodding along with Xavier’s words. “Inferno, wait.”

He doesn’t listen. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? You fought so hard to protect Crystal City, only for the cause of its downfall to be _you_.”

“Inferno, stop!” Declan is getting desperate—he remembers exactly why it is Ren first defeated him, now, and this is edging into that territory—

“When all this is over, you’re going to look back…”

Ren is whispering something into Lucas’s ear now.

“…and rue the day you first tangled with Inferno—!”

A lot of things happen at once.

Inferno lets out his patented, raspy laugh.

“ _Xavier!_ ” Declan shouts.

Lucas twists as far away from Frostbite as the space will allow.

And the machine explodes in a whirl of ice.

 _Shit_.

* * *

 

“ _Xavier_ ,” Declan groans, days later, in a prison cell. “What did I _tell_ you about monologuing?”


End file.
